From AndrewS: 15mm WWII British Sherman Tanks (120 points)

From Andrew:

This is my latest batch of figures a 15mm Guards Armoured company, comprising of 15 Shemans from Plastic soldier company.

Initially this was going to be a very straight forward and simple paint job for my youngest son. However I could not bring my self to do a quick job. Even when I thought it would be good enough with all the tanks completely painted and lined out I still felt that I could do better and therefore set about an 6 hour stint of sculpting one day and 4 hours the next, adding hessian strips and canvases followed by some camo nets, spare track and wheels etc. Finally painting up the extras and basing them in the early hours this morning.

The force consists of 3 Sherman V's for the company command.  3 platoons of 2 Sherman V's and 2 firefly's for the remainder.

Overall I am very happy with the result and my son is delighted.

I'm sure he is as that's some wonderful work you've done, Andrew! I really like the modifications and I'm sure your son must be very excited to get them on the table for a game.

These 15 Shermans will give Andrew a base of 90 points but I'm adding another 30 for the crew, stowage and various other modifications he's done. Great work.

From SebG: 15mm Thirty Years War Foot (41 points)

From Seb:

Because of the very "wintery" weather here in London (snow and cold), I stayed at home for the week-end and so managed to paint another 19 foot +1 dead unit: the Schaumburg infantry regiment. Yes, they're 15mm from Old Glory, you should be accustomed by now ;) 

Flags downloaded from Grimsby wargame society. The Schaumburg infantry regiment was from Saxony and will be perfect for my army, except that, after the peace of Prague of 1635, they fought for the imperialists... 

Next, some heavy support ;)

Excellent work Seb! I really like the banner that these lads are sporting. 

41 points for these Schamburgians! Looking forward to the upcoming heavies...

From PhilH: 28mm WWII Germans & Downed Pilot (50 points)

From Phil:

I thought some German efficiency would get my Challenge back on track. I'm still well below par as we approach the third-way point, but this bunch of points should help. All of these were part of my Christmas gift from Gharak and are from Artizan Designs. 

I promised Germans, but I actually finished the downed pilot first. A great dual-purpose miniature, he will join my Pulp crew as a pilot, once again the last adventure required one but we were short. He would also be a good objective for small-scale WWII games. 

Also nine Greatcoated Germans. A two-man checkpoints and a seven-man part-squad. I've nine more to paint, almost certainly on the workbench soon. They are a rag-tag bunch, some late war armed with G43 rifles, others bolt-action and supported by an MG34. So I echoed this with the painting, mixing up the colours to give the impression of a hard-bitten unit. I spent a while trying to get my colours right, but couldn't find a definitive on the greatcoats - flat grey or the more greeny 'feldgrau'. I eventually settled on two colours of greatcoats, to represent different batches, shortages or fading through wear. I'll add one or two more shades with the second batch. 

These will oppose my Commandos, originally I thought I'd use Brink of Battle, but I've just picked up Operation Squad, partly on your recommendation. I look forward to giving it a try. 

I'm still pondering two things. I used a different method on the pilots goggles than I usually do these things, by showing through to brown with just a flash of white, but I'm not sure it came out so well well. On the Germans, I was originally tempted to real dirty them up to cap off the rag-tag look. I will probably still do so, but it isn't my usual style and I spent so long highlighting the greatcoats I'm a bit reluctant now. Ah, decisions. 

Handsome work here Phil! I really like those greatcoated Germans, but I agree, they may benefit from a dirty cuff here and there.

These lads will give Phil 50 points.

From BurkhardS: 28mm Byzantine Warband (290 points)

Burkhard sends in this beautiful force of Byzantines for use with SAGA. 

From Burkhard:

Here is my next entry for the painting challange. My Byzantine Warband for SAGA. All minis are Gripping Beast metals in 28mm. I had initially planned to post them by units, but due to the cold weather here in Germany I did not want to varnish them, which is the step before doing the basing for me and meant I could not enter them. After the whole unit was finished I lost patience and varnished them in-doors. So as a result they all get presented in one go.

The lowest units are two units of Toxotai or foot archers (Warriors) and one unit of Kontaratoi or foot spearmen. These are the rank and file soldiers raised and maintained by the Byzantine state. As such I wanted to give them a uniform look, so the all got tan trousers and dark red shirts. This is also meant to show their origins as a successor to the Roman Empire. As such they received the colours historians (tan) and Hollywood (red) associate with the Romans. I guess IO will eventually have to get myself another unit of spearmen to give me th flexibility I want for my Byzantines, but for now it shall do.

The next highest units are the Kavallaroi or mounted Heathguards. I chose two, four-man units each of archers and regulars cavalry. While historically these are equipped by the state as well, the were also the most prestigious units in the army. So I wanted them to look like lesser nobles and gave each of them a different tunic with intricate patterns. 

Now those of you who know SAGA will realise that these seven points are too much to field a regular warband. The plan is that I will use all cavalry and only one unit of foot archers if I want an offensive set-up. by contrast I will remove one unit of mounted archers if I want a defensive set-up. Once the second foot spear is finished, I could also remove a unit of mounted close combat as well, but first I want to see how this one plays out.

All of the above troops were done using the Army Painter Dip and touched up and detailed once it was dry. The shields are transfers from LBMS and applied after the army painted as well.

Last but not least to lead the Warband is the Warlord or Basileus in this case (although I will not use the special rules fo him, since I feel this option actually weakens a Byzantine warband in SAGA). I gave him fine clothing with a purple cape, again to show the Roman origins of the Byzantines. He was painted the classic way with highlights to set him apart from the rest of the Warband. 

Really lovely work Burkhard. The painting is very smooth, bright and has great colour.

This force will give Burkhard 290 points to add to his total which will shoot him forward to 14th place and bring him much closer to his Points Par Target. Well done!